TOULOUSE – Tarmac Aerosave, a company specializing in aircraft storage, maintenance and dismantling, on Feb. 19 received a second Airbus A380 at its Tarbes, France facility for storage. The aircraft, registered 9V-SKB, bears serial number MSN005. It entered service early in 2008 with Singapore Airlines, which has just returned it to its owner, German-based lessor Dr. Peters. It flew on Feb. 9 from Singapore.

It is being stored “in flight-ready condition,” meaning Dr. Peters is looking for a new operator. Storage in flight-ready condition enables a return to service in two or three days but the aircraft will receive a new livery and a new cabin interior before it flies with a different airline. Tarmac has a contract to store another two Dr. Peters-owned A380s, bringing the total of ex-Singapore Airlines A380s to be stored in Tarbes to four.

Tarmac anticipates more demand for A380 storage. The type's size and weight require specific handling and the company has built suitable facilities – nine outdoor parking areas and one hangar – in Tarbes. There, it plans to add nine outdoor parking areas by 2020.

At its second location in Teruel, Spain, Tarmac can already accommodate “many more” A380s on outdoor areas, thanks to the site's dimensions, the company says. Two A380-size hangars will be built by 2020. Hangars are needed for long-term storage, which requires regular landing gear testing.

Airbus is one of Tarmac's shareholder. Late this year, the manufacturer is to start retrofitting the passenger cabins of 14 Singapore Airlines A380s.

Earlier we read that Wet Lease Company HiFly was taking two retired Singapore A380's but this article suggests the two plans are to be parted out for spares.

June 5, 2018 / 3:34 AM / Updated 11 minutes agoSpurned by airlines, first A380 jets to be stripped for parts
Excerpt:
Singapore Airlines launched A380 services in December 2007, but returned the first two aircraft to their German financiers some 10 years later after deciding not to extend their lease.

The two discarded aircraft were flown to Tarbes in the French Pyrenees to be stored, and since then their fate has been uncertain as their owner looked for other takers.

“After extensive as well as intensive negotiations with various airlines such as British Airways, HiFly and IranAir, Dr Peters Group has decided to sell the aircraft components and will recommend this approach to its investors,” the company said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
* * *
The planes will not be scrapped entirely, but their huge frames will be combed for valuable components such as landing gears and electronics, a Dr Peters official told Reuters.

Their engines have already been removed and leased back to manufacturer Rolls-Royce (RR.L) for use as spares and Dr Peters aims to extend this arrangement.

U.S.-based company VAS Aero Services will be responsible for extracting and selling parts.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A German investment company said on Tuesday it planned to sell the components of two unwanted Airbus A380 superjumbo jets, in an apparent move to send the world's largest jetliner to the breakers yard for the first time due to slack demand.

Dortmund-based Dr Peters Group said it had decided to sell the parts of aircraft returned by Singapore Airlines after failing to negotiate new leases with airlines including British Airways, IranAir and HiFly. It did not say how many jets were involved but said they were spread between two funds.

The following article does not allow pasting of text but states that these are the two planes that HiFly had earlier planned to acquire. "...HiFly ultimately failed to produce a convincing business case for the deal structure they had envisioned..." In addition, BA had supposedly investigated used A380's but didn't want to take delivery until 2021 when their 747's were to be retired.
The article continues by stating the original list price was $250 Million (it is currently $445 Million) and that sale of the parts could generate $80 Million / aircraft.

Text from the following article cannot be "pasted" but i'll summarize by saying that former Singapore 9VSKC (MSN6 - which I assume means the 6th production A380) will have 12 First Class, 60 Business and 399 Economy-Class Seats. Hi Fly is a wet leasing company meaning it will supply the plane with crew for short term leases by other carriers.

So the former Singapore A380s, now operated by wet leasing firm HiFly are now operating for Norwegian between Gatwick and JFK.
Headline could have read, Airbus Bails out Boeing and Rolls Royce.

Used Airbus A380 Bails Out Norwegian Air But Not Everyone Is Happy

Norwegian had been using leased Airbus A330 and A340 as “cover” for out-of-service aircraft. In June Norwegian even deployed an aging Boeing 747 from WAMOS Air, which TripAdvisor rates “two stars.” The WAMOS 747 was described by passengers as “out of the 1980’s”, with stained seats, no working TV screens and ashtrays in the armrests. One flight had to return to the UK after reporting ‘smoke in the cabin.’

So the bar may be low, but Norwegian’s rented A380 should satisfy far more passengers than the old 747. Hi Fly says their A380 will seat 471 passengers, with Business and First Class on the upper deck, Economy below. Singapore’s A380 aircraft are famous for their private suites with lie-flat beds. So some lucky passengers who book seats in Norwegian’s premium cabin might get to hang in the private suite, and hopefully get tucked into the lie-flat beds.

The economy experience should be also be positive. At 12-15 years old, the HiFly A380 is hardly ancient and should provide comfortable seating and a potential ‘walk-around’ experience for most passengers.

So far it’s not possible to book a set seat; Norwegian has told reporters that even premium seating will be randomly assigned. But aviation blogger Sam Chui claims you can fly A380 on Norwegian from August 3 to August 23 for as low as $614.90 in first/business class or an economy ticket from as low as $239.90. (I found somewhat higher fares on Norwegian.com.) Chui say you are most likely to snare the A380 on these flights: DI7015 London Gatwick to New York JFK departing 5:05PM arriving 8:05PM, and DI7016 New York JFK to London Gatwick departing 11:00PM arriving 11:00AM (+1 day).

Still, it’s not all strawberries and cream for Norwegian and its A380. The flights from London to NY do not appear on Airbus’ dedicated WWW.IFLYA380.com website, nor does Norwegian Air show up on the list of “A380 Airlines” on the site.

Norwegian attributes the problem to “airport restrictions” at JFK. The airport’s Terminal 1 is apparently very limited in the number of A380 boardings it can handle at once. Reportedly, no dedicated A380 gate was available at the time Norwegian scheduled the flight.

A Norwegian spokesperson said “We are fully aware of the situation and working on improving it as soon as possible.”

The silver lining for passengers (although another headache for Norwegian) is that by European law, passengers flying to or from the continent delayed more than 4 hours may be eligible for up to 600 euros in compensation. This is a situation companies like AirHelp are set up to exploit.

So will Norwegian/HiFly/A380 passengers get a comfortable flight, or a long delay and an eventual check? And by switching from grounded 787s to the A380, has Norwegian jumped from the frying pan into the fire? Stay tuned for the next installment of “As The A380 Turns.”

Airbus A380’s future is assured with Emirates very close to signing an order with Rolls-Royce to deliver engines for the 36 additional A380s the Dubai-based carrier ordered in February says the airline’s President Sir Tim Clark.

“The deal is just about to be closed, it will be Rolls-Royce”, Sir Tim Clark confirmed in an exclusive interview to Airlineratings.com on the sideline of the APG aviation conference in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

This ends speculation that the whole deal might fall through as airline and engine manufacturers missed several deadlines for the decision on which engines to select.

The deadlines were supposed to secure planned delivery from 2020 onwards. So far Emirates had ordered Rolls-Royce engines for 52 of its A380s and Engine Alliance ones for 90 aircraft.

Sir Tim Clark also talked about the delays in the current A380 delivery schedule.

Media speculated this week that the carrier might not be ready to take on more at the moment as the airline faces a pilot shortage and reportedly has stored some A380s at Dubai World Central airport.

But Clark dismissed these conclusions. “We don’t control the delivery stream, Airbus does, it’s called production. Unfortunately, quite a few of the A380 deliveries have slipped and they are all compressed in the back end of the year in the next two months, so we are taking them now.”

There had been speculation that it was Emirates asking for a stretch in the deliveries. “It’s not us delaying anything, one of the aircraft coming now should have been delivered in February, we are talking about a compression, all of them should have been delivered last year and haven’t been”, said Tim Clark when asked by Airlineratings.com

With the current widespread engine troubles in the aviation industry, Clark had some critical remark

“Engine manufacturers were moving too quickly to try to meet specifications. When it came to innovation they did little and sat on their hands, they overpromised and what we see now is the result of that.”

Commenting on the current problems Airbus faces with the geared turbofan (GTF) Pure Power engines by Pratt & Whitney powering the A320neo, Clark said: “I’m not saying GTF is a failure, it should work, I am not altogether sure why it hasn’t worked, whether it’s a metallurgical thing or a simple design flaw I don’t know because we haven’t got them, it’s a real shame but I’m sure Pratt will get it right, they have to.”

He urged propulsion manufacturers to combine innovations found in the LEAP powering the 737 MAXs and the GTFs for A320neos and regional jets with those implemented in high-thrust engines for wide-bodies.

“You see the quantum movements in the technology of thrust and weight driven by the ability of the engine to work hotter and harder, using ceramic technology to keeping the hot sections in check, even that’s under development at the moment. It is not going to a stop where it is today, what I am looking for is seven or ten years out, when all this has been looked at and they come out with better engines, that is what will happen.”

For Emirates itself, he said the biggest challenge currently is higher fuel prices. “At the moment we got huge problems with the fuel price, which is really destroying value for us, it really hit our bottom line quite hard, we haven’t had a good first half year just because of fuel.”

Here is an article discussing an Emirates A380 being "pummelled" by hail on landing.

The approach shows some crosswind and the one comment from someone who must love Curtiss electric propeller prop pitch mechanisms may be of interest:

StratoCruizing November 14, 2018 at 4:58 pm

A comment from ‘The Armchair”. A CB that carries that amount of Hail / Water would Paint a seriously Red Return and should be Avoided at All Costs. A TS that returns this sort WX on a Radar, would have a High Probability of possible Microbursts and Windshear. Damage to the Aircraft Structure and Changing Cross Wind Components on Touch Down are also associated with Servere CBs. I would choice not to fly with any Carrier whose Pilots are prepared to Risk an Approach in these Conditions. Was it a ‘commercial’ Decision to continue or was the Radar Return Intencity Outer Knob on the ND not correctly selected.

Former Air France CEO Alexandre de Juniac first announced an A380 refurbishment project in 2014 with plans for new seats to debut on the airplanes in 2017. The project, however, was constantly pushed back since then and the current CEO now wants to begin refitting the planes in 2020. If the current retrofitting schedule is not changed, the first A380 with new seats will begin flying in fall 2020. In business class, the seats found on the 787 and 777 will be installed, providing a lie-flat seat and aisle access for all passengers.

But not all A380s will get the much-needed cabin upgrades. According to Les Echos, Smith is set to reduce the double-decker fleet by fifty percent, or five aircraft.

Of the ten aircraft in the fleet, five are leased. Two lease contracts expire at the end of 2019 and will not be renewed. The three other rented A380s will fly for Air France until their leases gradually expire over the next few years.

The French carrier originally had 12 A380s on order. In 2014 the airline converted the order of two A380s to the A350, in favor of the smaller and more economical widebodies. Officials at the airline have also publicly admitted that buying the aircraft was not a good choice for Air France’s business model. The aircraft failed to turn a profit in Singapore and Beijing, where Air France had to revert back to the 777 on the routes. Currently, the airline serves Abidjan, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, New York (JFK), San Francisco, Washington Dulles, Mexico City, and Shanghai with the A380.

"... However, pilots on board the Emirates A380 arriving from Dubai, position the aircraft an angle to deal with the winds and gently land the giant superjumbo safely, creating an avalanche of reverse thrust spray as it does."

"... However, pilots on board the Emirates A380 arriving from Dubai, position the aircraft an angle to deal with the winds]

Yeah, unlike the Flybe ones I guess [facepalm] [nono]

Crosswind videos are awesome things.

And it's nice to see "textbook" landings that work out in textbook style.

I would also like to offer a caffeine inspired, somewhat unsupported pontification that I would bet a beer that those two go-arounds were due to either momentary wind shears or perhaps the crosswind exceeding the maximum crosswind limits established by the company, but NOT the scientific aeroengineers,

I would bet a beer that those two go-arounds were due to either momentary wind shears or perhaps the crosswind exceeding the maximum crosswind limits established by the company, but NOT the scientific aeroengineers,

BUT NOT_

_the skill of the pilots

OR

_the abilities of the aircrafts.

Regardless, anything, but don't tell me that they did not "position the aircraft an angle to deal with the winds".

FRANKFURT—Airbus said in a regulatory filing released Jan. 31 that it is in “commercial discussions with Emirates Airline in relation to its A380 contract” following two reports that the airline may ditch all or part of a follow-up order for the aircraft.

Termination of the contract could force Airbus to shut down the program, a move the manufacturer seriously considered before securing the latest commitment from the type’s—by far—largest customer.

News agencies Bloomberg and Reuters reported that Emirates was close to ditching the order fully or partly because it sees itself unable to reach an agreement with Rolls-Royce over the terms of a deal that would see the British manufacturer deliver Trent 900 engines. Emirates and Rolls-Royce have been in negotiations about the purchase for well over a year now. Talks have collapsed temporarily before. They were made more complicated by a bitter dispute over how alleged performance shortfalls of the Trent 900 on Emirates’ existing fleet should be compensated.

Instead of taking more A380s, Emirates could decide to order smaller A350s. The airline had once bought 70 of the latest Airbus twin widebody, but cancelled the deal in 2014 over concerns the engine might not reach the expected performance targets. Emirates has since also committed to the competing Boeing 787.

Airbus said details of the discussions with Emirates remained confidential. Emirates said it doesn’t “comment on talks which are ongoing.”

Since the launch of the program in 2000, airlines have ordered just 321 A380s, far below initial expectations that saw the aircraft became the main model for hub-to-hub traffic. Of the 321 aircraft, 234 have been delivered at the end of December 2018 and 232 remain in operation. Two former Singapore Airlines aircraft are in the process of being parted out.

The 87 aircraft yet to be delivered include a total of 53 more A380s for Emirates. The 20 additional firm aircraft the airline committed to at the beginning of 2018 helped Airbus secure production at a low and loss-making rate of six aircraft per year for several years. Airbus opted to continue the line hoping for a pick-up in demand in the second half of the next decade. However, the aircraft will have been 20 years in service by then with no major upgrades as Airbus decided to not go ahead with a re-engining program Emirates had intensively lobbied for.

Senior executives also made clear at the time that without the additional Emirates deal Airbus would seek to terminate production of its biggest commercial jet.

The backlog still includes commitments of carriers like Qantas and Virgin Atlantic, though each have said they are not interested in taking (more) A380s. Also, contractual terms with Airbus allow lessor Amedeo to only take its aircraft once it has placed them with operators. Amedeo technically has 20 aircraft on firm order, the bulk of the non-Emirates backlog.

Industry sources believe Airbus CEO Tom Enders could terminate the A380 before his term at the top of the company ends in April allowing his successor Guillaume Faury to start with a cleaned-up portfolio of commercial aircraft. Airbus would likely incur substantial financial penalties if it went ahead with the shutdown.

In response to Verbal's non sequitur on GLARE here are some comments from INTERNET experts:

Glare is a multilayer sandwich of alumining and glass/resin, which is all well and good, but one of the things you have to plan for is can
your material handle the current density of a lightening strike?

What concerns me about glare is the possibility of explosive de-lamination in the event of a lightning strike. it isn't all that unusual for a lightning strike to burn a hole at the entry or exit point in the aluminum skin. On most aircraft, you just patch the aluminum skin, and you are done. On glare, the vaporized aluminum is likely to delaminate, and resin are huge producers of gas when overheated, to the point that they are used in blow up protectors to protect high voltage lines. The strike flashes over the blowout protector, which is lined with resin. The resin just about explodes from the heat, and literally blows out the arc. It is very impressive to watch.

Explosive de-lamination in the area of the wing box is likely to have very unpleasant consequences because of the loads being carried. Same problem on the wings. The further you get away from the wing box, the smaller the loads being carried, and the less of a concern the delamination is likely to be.
- - -
Glare is built like a multi-layer capacitor! In addition to the possible vaporization of the resin, the negatively-charged aluminum "plates" would be electrostatically repelled from each other.

OTOH, it's inconceivable to me that lightning strikes weren't considered by the A380's design engineers. And airliner certification requires extensive lightning-strike testing. However, it's possible that the mix-and-match of aluminum and Glare on the A380 is related to lightning tolerance.

Be interesting to see if Boeing has some clever (i.e. lightweight) way of handling the lightning issue on their 787, other than by embedding a metal
mesh.

Now on to some journalist comments:

Does Emirates really need more A380s?

The A380's high operating costs are becoming particularly problematic for two reasons. First, Emirates' main airline subsidiary reported that profit plunged by 86% to $62 million in the first half of its current fiscal year, putting its profit margin for that period at less than 1%. Second, the Boeing 777-9, the larger member of the 777X family, will make its debut next year. The 777-9 will be the largest twin-engine plane on the market -- and probably also the most cost-efficient.

The argument in favor of the A380 has always been that it is necessary to provide additional capacity in slot-constrained markets. However, Emirates only flies to a handful of airports where slots are truly scarce. It already has more than enough A380s to do the job -- and with an average age of just five years, these A380s can remain in its fleet for many years to come.

For most markets, Boeing's 777X family would probably produce better financial results. Emirates already has 150 on order.

Importantly, London's Heathrow, arguably the most important slot-constrained airport, is planning to add a third runway within the next decade, which would enable more flights. Meanwhile, Emirates is scheduled to shift its operations from Dubai International Airport to the much larger Al Maktoum International Airport sometime around 2030. That will give it plenty of space to operate more flights at its hub.

Thus, Emirates' need for the A380 is steadily fading. The only question now is whether Airbus and Emirates are finally ready to admit that there's no reason to keep producing the jumbo jet for another decade or more.

Airbus SE’s long-suffering A380 superjumbo was dealt another blow after Qantas Airways Ltd. formally canceled an outstanding order for the out-sized aircraft whose future is once again on the line.

The Australian airline, one of the initial operators of the double-decker plane, scrubbed an order for eight aircraft, which has a list price in excess of $445 million. Sydney-based Qantas had been pushing back the 2006 commitment for the Airbus aircraft for years. In a statement Thursday, Qantas, however, said it will upgrade its existing fleet of 12 A380s, starting this year.

“These aircraft have not been part of the airline’s fleet and network plans for some time,” Qantas said in its statement, referring to the 2006 order.

The formal scrapping of the order puts the future of the flagship program in further doubt. Gulf carrier Emirates, the primary operator of the superjumbo, may convert some or all of its most recent 20 orders for the jet into smaller A350s, people familiar with the matter have said. That switch would slash Airbus’s order backlog of its largest passenger aircraft.

Qantas has had a fractured relationship with the A380. The airline made global headlines in late 2010, when an A380 en route from Singapore suffered a mid-flight engine explosion that ripped through the wing, though the aircraft returned to the airport safely and nobody was seriously hurt. Qantas grounded its fleet of A380s for a few weeks immediately after the incident.

For all its imposing size and commanding presence in the skies, the A380 hasn’t managed to leave much of an imprint with most airlines, relegated instead to an afterthought for carriers who built their stables around nimbler planes.

Since entering commercial service a decade back, the A380 has faced an ever-shrinking fan base. Passengers love the plane for its modern layout, perks like spacious bars in business class and even enclosed cabins and showers in some first-class offerings, gladiator fights, dancing women in cages, and public executions, but airlines have been much harder to win over. Some early prospective customers dropped out, others scaled back their order book. Only Emirates became a true champion of the A380, building a large part of its globe-spanning fleet around the plane, with already more than 100 in operation.

The following article cannot be pasted but the headline isAirbus to give update on A380 Shutdown Plans

The article states that the Airbus Board meets on February 13 and that barring a sudden breakthrough in the negotiations between Emirates and Rolls Royce, an announcement about terminating the plane may come on Thursday.

PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus is nearing a decision to axe production of the world’s largest airliner and may give an update with full-year earnings on Feb. 14, industry sources and analysts said.

The fate of the A380 superjumbo has been in doubt since a vital order from Emirates foundered over inconclusive engine talks, forcing Airbus and the airline to weigh an alternative plan that would trigger a premature halt to A380 production.

Under the proposed reshuffle, first reported by Reuters, Airbus hopes to broker a deal that would see Emirates switch part of its order to smaller models like the A350 or A330, while eking out a few last-minute A380 orders from British Airways.

The timing of any final announcement may be driven by the outcome of those talks, but Airbus will be under pressure to provide some clarity on its plans in time for Thursday’s earnings following mounting speculation over the plane’s future.

“The A380 is the elephant in the hangar; it will be impossible to avoid saying something on the subject,” said Agency Partners analyst Sash Tusa, who predicted last week that a decision to shut the loss-making program may be imminent.

The A380 is already on life support due to weak sales. Barring a surprise breakthrough in stalled engine talks between Emirates and Rolls-Royce, the A380’s French and German factories are unlikely to survive beyond 2020, analysts say.

Any decision to pull the plug on the iconic European double-decker after just 12 years in service must be approved by the Airbus board, which meets on Wednesday.

Frankly, I thought it was done when FedEx canceled their order. When an airplane that large can't be efficiently operated even as a freighter, one get serious doubts if there is an economic case for it at all.